Lot 91: Karl Gottfried Traugott Faber (German, 1785-1863)

Dresden from the right bank of the Elbe below the August Bridge with signature and date 'T. Faber 1868.' (lower right) oil on canvas 423/4 x 60 3/8 in. (108.6 x 153.4 cm.) NOTES A student of Klengel and a member of the Dresden Academy, Karl Gottfried Traugott Faber painted several known views of Dresden of which the present work is one of the largest. Faber's classic view of Dresden is not dissimilar to the painting by Bernardo Bellotto with the same title painted in 1751-53 (H. Marx & G. J. M. Weber, Dresden in the Ages of Splendor and Enlightenment: eighteenth-century paintings from the old masters picture gallery, Columbus, Ohio, 1999, no. 1, illustrated p. 56). Faber painted this panorama from roughly the same vantage point as Bellotto's view, from the Japanese Palais on the right bank. Central to Faber's composition is the Catholic Hofkirche which he painted in light glowing colours and enhanced by reflecting it in the waters of the Elbe. Behind the Hofkirche to the right, can just be seen the grey roof of the elector's palace, including the tall Hausmann Tower, the top of which appears to perch atop the Hofkirche's roof. The church is linked to the right bank by the Augustus Brcke, designed by Matt„us Daniel P”ppelmann. Upon Brhl Terrace, which runs to the left of the Hofkirche, can be identified the palace of Augustus the Strong's former viceroy, Anton Egon von Frstenberg, the Palais Brhl, identified by its tall, round arch windows, the Brhl library and the painting gallery of Count Brhl. Rising directly above the terrace to the left of the composition, is the majestic cupola of George B„hrs' Protestant Frauenkirche, destroyed in 1945 and recently rebuilt. To the right of the Hofkirche stands the theatre which, prior to its burning down and subsequent replacement by the Semperoper in 1870, staged the premieres of Richard Wagner's operas, Rienzi (1842), The Flying Dutchman (1845) and Tannh„user (1845). A similar, though smaller view of Dresden by the artist was sold in these Rooms on 20 May 1993, lot 355 (œ42,000). The present painting apears to be dated 1868 which would suggest that the painting was completed after Faber's death by a member of his studio and dated at that time.